September - October 2020
Following God's Compass
By Fayth McConnell, Missionary to Mexico
In 1994 when many of our friends were considering retirement my husband, Bill, and I began ministering in Northern Mexico. Not long after we began ministering there, God opened a door for us to minister in the women’s and boys’ prisons. In 2006 Bill and I were overjoyed when our daughter, Joy, and her husband, Del, became missionaries and joined us in ministry. Over the years we have had the privilege of working together with the teen boys at Instituto de Tratamiento y de Aplicación de Medidas para Adolescentes (ITAMA) youth prison in northwestern Mexico.
The four of us could share for hours about how God has changed the direction of many of these boys’ lives. We keep in touch with some of them after they are released from prison and have desired to do more to help them after their release. God recently opened a door for us to do just that.
We purchased a property in Mexico that is perfect for housing the boys upon their release. THANK YOU for the generous donations we received from our Open Bible family, friends, and our personal family for making this a reality. The property includes a four-bedroom house for the house parents and an empty building, which we will renovate to use as the safe house. Right now, we are focusing on securing the property by constructing a block wall on one side of the property and installing a fence across the front of the property. Once the property is secured we will install window and door bars and an electric pole for the safe house. This will provide us with power to renovate the inside of the safe house and keep our tools safe. There is a lot of work to be done to renovate the house. While this is a big project it isn’t too big for our God. It will be such a blessing to be able to provide the boys with a safe place to finish school, acquire job training, and receive spiritual guidance. 
Fellow Christians Jaime and Mary Fuentes will be the safe house parents. We met Mary in 2011 during a Bible study we taught in the women’s prison. While incarcerated Mary asked Jesus to be her Lord and Savior. Shortly after Mary was released from prison Jaimie also became a Christian. To read their testimony, please click here.
After Jaimie and Mary began serving the Lord, we mentored them for ministry, and they helped us with the prison ministry and became our interpreters. We believe Jaime and Mary will be amazing house parents as their testimony of overcoming their past through Christ’s help will help them in their ministry to the boys and those in the neighborhood.
While ministering at ITAMA we met a boy named Jose. He came from a really rough background. When his parents divorced, Jose’s mom struggled to make a living and was never home. Because of this Jose moved to his uncle’s house where he rebelled and started to sell drugs and steal. Jose was eventually arrested and sent to ITAMA. Jose was sentenced to prison for five to ten years. After serving six months in Nogales he was transferred to the Hermosillo Juvenile Facility.
God performed a miracle. After serving only one-year of his possible ten-year sentence Jose was informed that he was going to be released. His uncle was very good to him so Jose planned to move back in with him. Sadly, his uncle passed away from the coronavirus two weeks before Jose was to be released. Jose had nowhere to go and needed a job. He began to pray for another miracle. He feared what might happen upon his release and didn’t want to go back to his old ways.
While at the new facility Jose became good friends with a boy whose father is a Christian. Jose met the friend’s father, Alberto, and shared his testimony with him. Alberto sympathized with Jose’s story as he lived a similar life until he accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior. Alberto said he would pick Jose up when he was released and provide a place for him to stay and a job at his construction company. Praise the Lord! Now all Jose needed was enough groceries for two weeks until he received his first paycheck. We were so happy when he called us and Mary was able to take him shopping.
Jose told Mary he was thankful for how God had provided for his every need. He said he was also thankful for us because we taught him how to pray and invite the Holy Spirit into his life. Jose continues to work hard for Alberto, is now enrolled in school, and keeps in contact with Jaime and Mary. Jose is excited to attend church with Jaimie and Mary in September when churches reopen.
God is so faithful! Jose’s testimony is just one of many. We believe that this safe house is not only going to transform young lives like Jose’s, but also those who live in the community where the safe house is.
Will you join us? Together we can provide a safe place where boys can finish school, acquire job training, and receive spiritual guidance. The property has been purchased. THANK YOU! Now we need to secure, renovate, and furnish the safe house.
Step One
Finish securing the property and install a power pole for electricity. This project will cost approximately $2,500.
Step Two
Complete the renovation of the interior of the safe house. Previously teams have travelled to Mexico to help us with needs such as this; however, due to COVID-19 teams have not been able to come. We will need to pour concrete floors; build a kitchen from the ground up with cabinets, appliances, and dishware; install two full bathrooms with showers; and build bedrooms and a living space with furnishings. This project will cost approximately $20,000
Step Three
Provide a new beginning to boys released from prison by helping them finish school, acquire job training, and receive spiritual guidance.

We are so grateful for everyone who has answered the call of God to help us through prayer and giving. Please pray for and donate to this project as we believe God is going to do great things here.
DONATE NOW!

Please make checks payable to:
Open Bible Churches
2020 Bell Ave., Des Moines, Iowa 50315
Designated MEXICO SAFE HOUSE
Bill and Fayth McConnell are Open Bible missionaries to Northern Mexico. It is their desire to take the Gospel to the poor and underprivileged and to go wherever God opens a door for them. Their ministry involves building churches, ministering at orphanages and prisons, serving at soup kitchens, and working wherever they find a need.

For more information about the McConnells' ministry in Mexico, or to become a one-time or monthly donor, please
Del and Joy have a passion to advance the kingdom of God. They share God's love by caring for people in need, teaching God's Word, and winning the lost for Christ. Del and Joy network with several churches, orphanages, and the men's and women's rehab ranch, where several buildings have been built through the work of visiting teams.

For more information about the Browns' ministry in Mexico, or to become a one-time or monthly donor, please
One of Open Bible’s oldest mission’s work is in India, the second most populous nation in the world with more than one billion people. Presently there are 536 Open Bible churches in southern India.
 
Because of the current ever-increasing growth of our Open Bible work in India, we are estimating that within the next 10 to 15 years we could have more than 1,000 churches here. Therefore, it is vital that we train more pastors, other leaders, and evangelists for these churches so we can continue spreading the Gospel, reaching thousands of people during these perilous times.
 
India Field Director John Paul has developed a very successful program for training these future pastors and leaders for Open Bible’s work here. This training will be done in the new Bible college facility that will be constructed out of funds received from Mission India. This building will have the capacity to house 48 students.
 
You have the opportunity to help equip India’s next generation of pastors and leaders by joining the Mission India team and making a donation that will be used to build a Bible college. Are you ready to join the team?
Building
For Eternity
By Aaron Keller
National MOVE Director and lead pastor of Sunshine Church of the Open Bible in Des Moines, Iowa
I have always had a passion for missions. When I was a child, every time a missionary would visit my church, I would be fascinated by what they shared about the culture and their ministry overseas, so much so that I attended Eugene Bible College (now New Hope Christian College) in Oregon as a missions major. To fulfill my internship requirements, my wife, Wendy, and I went to Papua New Guinea for two months. Wendy and I both had a heart for missions and we felt like we were called to the missions field; however, having children with special needs brought a lot of challenges we felt would not work for us if we ministered overseas.
In 2014 I was talking to a man from my home church whom I have known my whole life was “hounding” me to go on a two-and-a-half week missions trip with Men of Vision Evangelize (now MOVE Ministries) to build a church. I wanted to go, I really did, but that was a long time to be away from my family and it just wasn’t realistic at the time. A year later in 2015, MOVE was headed to Papua New Guinea to build a church in Goroka. Wendy and I had worked with the pastor of this church during our internship in 2001. It was the right time and I had to go. I sat down with Wendy and shared with her about the trip and who we would be building the church for. She was excited for me to be able to go. I sent out support request letters, sold Christmas wreaths, and did everything I could to go on that trip.
New church building in Papua New Guinea.
I remember thinking about what it would be like to go on a MOVE trip. Let me tell you, it wasn’t what I thought it would be. It was different than any other missions’ trip I had been on. My perspective changed as I connected with local leaders and experienced cross-cultural ministry. It more than met my expectations. Nothing could have prepared me for the men’s ministry aspect of a MOVE trip. I had been longing for this type of community for the church. Men were open about their relationship with God, their struggles and iniquities. Seeing men support each other as they came into repentance with God was powerful. These relationships were real. The men stayed in contact even after the trip was over. There truly was something special about these trips.
Rev. Mark Hornback, lead pastor at First Church in Ottumwa, Iowa, shares: “I had major reservations before the trip to Costa Rica. Mostly feelings of insecurities about being around other men who are doing manly things. I’ve never been into construction, cars, sports, or other things the world defines as something a real man would do or like. After getting there the Lord transformed my view of manhood. It had nothing to do with what my perceptions of what a manly man would say or do, but rather who God says I am. He made me and every other man on that trip in His image. All of us were on the same quest, to see Him revealed to us and those around us. Building the church was amazing, but seeing God work in every man on the trip in a different way was powerful!”
At the end of my first trip, then MOVE Director Don Tietz and Construction Director Dave Bethany asked me if I would come back on another trip. I responded with, “It’s a big commitment.” As time went on and separated me from the trip to Papua New Guinea, I noticed I was craving the brotherhood of the men I went on the trip with. By my third trip I was hooked.
In 2019 I became the new Director of MOVE Ministries. The goal is simple: to continue in the direction MOVE was already heading. Seeing men, some of whom were pastors, church leaders, or those who barely had one foot in the door of a church, go to a location out of their comfort zone where they lower their defenses and become vulnerable with God and other men is amazing. God has placed a desire in my heart to provide as many men as possible with an opportunity to have that type of experience.
In January of 2020, 44 men took a trip to Costa Rica to build a church. On this trip some of the men rededicated their lives to the Lord. We held a baptism while we were there. I was so pleased that four men from our team and six men from the local church took the plunge and were baptized. We were blessed to have eight pastors join us on this trip. They were essential to how we as a team ministered to the community and other men in the group. Because of the MOVE team’s ministry and the power of our testimony, the pastor of the church we were building signed up for our next trip. Our team knew his financial situation. Even though he didn’t ask us for anything, our team fully funded his trip.
Rev. Gustavo Alvarez, lead pastor for the church that was built, shares: “MOVE for us is the demonstration of God’s power and it all started in the month of April of 2019 when the Holy Spirit gave me a vision, He told me to pray for a new church building to be constructed on a property we hadn’t yet purchased. We give thanks to God and the MOVE team. I also want to thank those who gave sacrificially so that I could go on the MOVE Jamaica 2021 trip to bless another pastor and congregation with a new church building.”
I want to mirror that experience for more men in the coming years. MOVE has added a second trip every year in the fall that is shorter which we hope will allow more men to participate in a MOVE trip. These trips will be eight to ten days. COVID-19 may have delayed our first fall trip, but we are looking ahead to more trips. We have also started hosting a men’s summer retreat called Camp MOVE. Currently we are holding it in Central Region but hope to expand the retreats to different areas in the future. Ultimately, we want to reach men and impact them so they can raise their involvement in their home church and local communities.
For more information about MOVE Ministries
or for upcoming trips please go to: 

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